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The U.S. military conducted airstrikes on Taliban positions outside the southern city of Kandahar—the birthplace of the militant group—that observers say underscores the dire situation in the country.
The New York Times said the strikes “reflect both the level of American worry and the Afghan military’s continued need for U.S. air support, as Washington attempts to end nearly 20 years of war.”
The airstrikes do not come as a complete surprise. We reported that President Biden had an awkward meeting last month with Ashraf Ghani, his counterpart in Kabul, and vowed a “sustained” partnership. (SEE: “U.S. PANEL: KEEP FIGHTING AND LOSING AFGHAN WAR,” “PENTAGON: KEEP THE 20 YEAR LOSING AFGHAN WAR GOING.”)
“The partnership between Afghanistan and the United States is not ending,” he said, according to reports. He said troops may be on their way out, but the U.S. will help Kabul sustain its military and offer economic and military support.
The White House said Biden spoke with Ghani on Friday and they “agreed that the Taliban’s current offensive is in direct contradiction to the movement’s claim to support a negotiated settlement of the conflict.”
The Taliban called the U.S. strikes “disobedience” to the withdrawal agreement, which the paper said seems to prove that the bombings were extensive and the Taliban suffered significant losses.
The Times pointed out that these were the first strikes since Gen. Austin Miller stepped down after a three-year command in the country. Miller said at his “muted” farewell ceremony at the U.S. and NATO military headquarters in Kabul that the job now is to “not forget.”
Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the leader of the military’s Central Command, who now oversees Afghanistan, said at the ceremony, “It’s not the end of the story. It’s the end of a chapter.”
The U.S. has insisted that it is still working to come up with a peace deal between Kabul and the Taliban, but the paper pointed out that the Taliban is emboldened due to it’s domination over the country’s forces across the country and sees little need to negotiate. The U.S. withdrawal is about 95 percent complete, according to Central Command.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken seemed to acknowledge that there’s a chance that Kabul will fall and told MSNBC in an interview that if these fighters do overthrow the government they would be seen as a “pariah state.”
(“Pariah states seem to be working out quite well across the globe if you consider Myanmar’s junta, Ethiopia, and Cuba.)
One military official told the paper that the U.S. will continue to carry out airstrikes “where and when feasible.”
The paper pointed out that details about the strikes have been shrouded in secrecy.
John Kirby, the spokesman for the Pentagon, confirmed to reporters that the U.S. “have acted through airstrikes to support the ANDSF [Afghan National Security Forces].”
CNN reported that the airstrikes were intended to recapture military equipment that had been taken by Taliban fighters in recent weeks.
The U.S. plans on keeping 650 troops in the country to secure the embassy and Kabul’s international airport.
“There’s a possibility of a complete Taliban takeover or a possibility of any number of other scenarios, breakdown, warlordism, all other kinds of scenarios that are out there. We’re monitoring very closely, I don’t think the end game is yet written,” Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said.
TREND FORECAST: This October will mark the 20th year of the U.S. war in Afghanistan, the longest war in its history.
On 7 October 2001, President George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan stating the purpose was to capture Osama bin Laden, leader of the organization Al-Qaeda, which, according to U.S. intelligence, was behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on 11 September 2001.
Bin Laden denied any involvement, and, as we have reported in detail in the Trends Journal, President Bush refused to negotiate, provide evidence… or even talk to the Taliban regarding bin Laden’s role in the attack.
Long forgotten is the report that 15 of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudi’s, one of America’s treasured allies.
Since initiating the war back in 2001 and giving it the name “Operation Enduring Freedom,” the justification shifted to a fight with the Taliban, which the Bush administration cited as a direct threat to the sovereignty of surrounding countries.
Gerald Celente had accurately forecast – and, at the time, was chastised for and banned from the major media he frequently appeared on—that the U.S. military would not win in Afghanistan: “If Alexander the Great couldn’t pull it off. If the British at the height of the British Empire couldn’t beat them and the Russians couldn’t beat the Afghans, neither will the American military.”
And since the signs of defeat have become more evident, The Trends Journal continues to report extensively on the American led disaster that has cost trillions and killed and wounded hundreds of thousands… including U.S. soldiers. (See: “BYE BYE U.S.: TALIBAN TO TAKE KABUL,” “BOGEYMEN, TERRORISTS AND EVIL DOERS.”) The Taliban now holds about 213 of the country’s 419 districts and will control the entire nation, as it did in 2001 before the U.S. invasion.